Trust in social machines: the challenges

The World Wide Web has ushered in a new generation of applications constructively linking people and computers to create what have been called ‘social machines.’ The ‘components’ of these machines are people and technologies. It has long been recognised that for people to participate in social machines, they have to trust the processes. However, the notions of trust often used tend to be imported from agent-based computing, and may be too formal, objective and selective to describe human trust accurately. This paper applies a theory of human trust to social machines research, and sets out some of the challenges to system designers

Automated Reasoning and Robotics

A most important quality in robotics is the work done in the development of automated reasoning techniques. This model of reasoning works on the assistance of computer programs and just as it is in other fields, it has worked to aid in the answering of certain open questions. The aim of this survey is to study the applications of automated reasoning in the field of robotics and to evaluate its efficiency as a reasoning technique when applied. It is based generally on research into reasoning techniques applied to robotics and running an evaluation in contrast to automated reasoning to determine the rates of effectiveness between them. This process involves a basic understanding of how reasoning is implemented in relation to robotics, after which varying reasoning techniques and applications are discussed and compared in relation to automated reasoning and how automated reasoning would work to enhance results retrieved. The primary objective in this study is to identify the effectiveness of automated reasoning techniques to other techniques available and it begins with an introduction providing an overview of the concepts discussed before proceeding to examine the technicalities involved and which level of technicality is best

Alternativas para definir protocolos de interacción basadas en compromisos

Esta línea de investigación se enfoca sobre el diseño de protocolos de interacción entre agentes y estudia la posibilidad de desarrollar nuevos protocolos que no limiten la flexibilidad del agente, permitiéndole aprovechar oportunidades y manejar las excepciones que se le presentan. Además, esta línea busca desarrollar un formalismo de especificación de protocolos flexibles, que permita a un agente comunicar una política de conversación a otro agente.Eje: Agentes y Sistemas InteligentesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Alternativas para definir protocolos de interacción basadas en compromisos

Esta línea de investigación se enfoca sobre el diseño de protocolos de interacción entre agentes y estudia la posibilidad de desarrollar nuevos protocolos que no limiten la flexibilidad del agente, permitiéndole aprovechar oportunidades y manejar las excepciones que se le presentan. Además, esta línea busca desarrollar un formalismo de especificación de protocolos flexibles, que permita a un agente comunicar una política de conversación a otro agente.Eje: Agentes y Sistemas InteligentesRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Contract related agents

Imperial Users onl

BARCH: a business analytics problem formulation and solving framework

The BARCH framework is a business framework that is specifically formulated to help analysts and management who want to identify and formulate a scenario to which Analytics can be applied and the outcome will have a direct impact on the business. This is the overarching public work that I have used extensively in various projects and research. This framework has been developed initially in the banking sector and has evolved progressively with successive projects. The framework’s name represents five aspects for the formulation and identification of an area that one can use Analytics to answer. The five aspects are Business, Analytics, Revenue, Cost and Human. The five aspects represent the entire system and approach to the identification, formulation, understanding and modelling of Analytic problems. The five aspects are not necessarily sequential but are interrelated in some ways where certain aspects are dependent on the other aspects. For example, revenue and cost are related to business and depend on the business from which they are derived. However, in most practices involving Analytics, Analytics are conducted independent of business and the techniques in Analytics are not derived from business directly. This lack of harmony between business and Analytics creates an unfortunate combination of factors that has led to the failure of Analytics projects for many businesses. In intensely practising Analytics and critically reflecting on every piece of work I have done, I have learned the importance of combining knowledge with skills and experience to come up with new knowledge and a form of practical wisdom. I also realize now the importance of understanding fields that are not directly related to my field of specialization. Through this context statement I have been able to increase the articulation of my thinking and the complexities of practice through approaches to knowledge such as transdisciplinarity which further supports the translation of what I can do and what needs to be done in a way that business clients can understand. Having the opportunity to explore concepts new to me from other academic fields and seeking their relevance and application in my own area of expertise has helped me considerably in the ongoing development of the BARCH framework and successful implementation of Analytics projects. I have selected the results of three projects published in papers that are listed in Appendices A-C to demonstrate how the model can be applied to solve problems successfully compared to other frameworks. The evolution of the model involves a continual feedback loop of learning from each successive project which contributes to the BARCH model being able to not only continuously demonstrate its applicability to various problems but to consistently produce better and more refined results. The majority of analytical models applied to the many problems in the business environment address the problems only superficially (Bose, 2009; Krioukov et. al., 2011), that is without understanding the impact on the business as a whole. Many Analytics projects have not delivered the promised impact because the models applied are overly complicated (Stubbs, 2013) to solve the root causes of the business problem. This situation is compounded by an increasing number of analysts applying Analytics to business problems without a proper understanding of the context, technique and environment (Stubbs, 2013). While many experts in the field interpret the problem as a multidisciplinary problem, the problem is in my opinion transdisciplinary in nature

Selection and verification of workflows in multimedia service compositions

[no abstract

Specification and Verification of Agent Interaction Protocols in a Logic-based System

A number of information systems can be described as a set of interacting entities, which must follow interaction protocols. These protocols determine the behaviour and the properties of the overall system, hence it is of the uttermost importance that the entities behave in a conformant manner. A typical case is that of multi-agent systems, composed of a plurality of agents without a centralized control. Compliance to protocols can be hardwired in agent programs; however, this requires that only \u201ccertified\u201d agents interact. In open systems, composed of autonomous and heterogeneous entities whose internal structure is, in general, not accessible (open agent societies being, again, a prominent example) interaction protocols should be specified in terms of the observable behaviour, and compliance should be verified by an external entity. In this paper, we propose a Java-Prolog-CHR system for verification of compliance of computational entities to protocols specified in a logic-based formalism (Social Integrity Constraints ). We also show the application of the formalism and the system to the specification and verification of three different scenarios: two specifications show the feasibility of our approach in the context of Multi Agent Systems (FIPA Contract-Net Protocol and Semi-Open societies), while a third specification applies to the specification of a lower level protocol (Open-Connection phase of the TCP protocol)

Specification and verification of agent interaction protocols in a logic-based system

In multiagent systems, agent interaction is ruled by means of interaction protocols. Compliance to protocols can be hardwired in agent programs; however, this requires that only ''certified'' agents interact. In open societies, composed of autonomous and heterogeneous agents whose internal structure is, in general, not accessible, interaction protocols should be specified in terms of the agent observable behaviour, and compliance should be verified by an external entity. In this paper, we propose a Java-Prolog-CHR system for verification of compliance of agents' behaviour to protocols specified in a logic-based formalism (Social Integrity Constraints). We also present the application of the formalism and the system to the specification and verification of the FIPA Contract-Net protocol

Specification and verification of agent interaction protocols in a logic-based system

A number of information systems can be described as a set of interacting entities, which must follow interaction protocols. A typical case is that of multi-agent systems, composed of a plurality of agents without a centralized control. Compliance to protocols can be hardwired in agent programs; however, this requires that only ``certified'' agents interact. In open systems, composed of autonomous and heterogeneous entities whose internal structure is, in general, not accessible (open agent societies being, again, a prominent example) interaction protocols should be specified in terms of the observable behaviour, and compliance should be verified by an external entity. In this paper, we propose a Java-Prolog- system for verification of compliance of computational entities to protocols specified in a logic-based formalism (Social Integrity Constraints). We also present the application of the formalism and the system to the specification and verification of the FIPA Contract-Net protocol, and to the open-connection phase of the TCP protocol